Beloved Conversations Retreat Leader Job Description
About Beloved Conversations
Beloved Conversations — the signature offering of The Fahs Collaborative at Meadville Lombard Theological School — is a program for Unitarian Universalist congregations seeking to embody racial justice as a spiritual practice. Using a small-group ministry format, the Beloved Conversations curriculum creates a supportive space for congregants to talk about their own experiences with race and racism, while identifying places where growth is necessary for individuals and congregations.
As an instrument of faith formation, it offers participants a chance to summon the compassion, grace, risk-taking, vulnerability, and healing that lays the foundation for deep transformation in ourselves, our relationships, and our religious communities. This curriculum offers participants of color a chance to explore how racism has shaped their sense of self, their spiritual journey, and their belonging in community. Likewise, white participants are invited to challenge their worldviews and take an unflinching look at how racism is deeply embedded in their own experiences and their faith community, all within a spiritually supportive container that prioritizes relationships.
In addition, the curriculum’s current edition offers real-time faith formation resources explicitly for people of color, as well as organizational support for making institutional change.
Beloved Conversations begins with a 1.5 day retreat, led by a member of the Beloved Conversations Retreat Leader staff. The program then continues with eight 2-hour sessions, facilitated by pairs of people from the congregation with continued coaching from the Retreat Leader.
The Role of the Retreat Leader
Beloved Conversations Retreat Leaders are coaches, supports, teachers, collaborators, educators, and faith formers. Our multi-racial, multi-generational, multi-regional, multi-identity team includes deeply talented, spiritual facilitators who share a profound commitment to dismantling white supremacy in our congregations and the broader society. We are lay leaders, religious professionals, and ordained clergy.
Retreat Leaders shepherd congregations through the Beloved Conversations process from beginning to end. When a congregation first signs up for our program, our Congregational Coordinator will match the congregation with their Retreat Leader(s). The Retreat Leader then works with the liaisons from the congregation prior to the retreat to support them in recruiting Facilitator Team(s), inviting participants, handling retreat logistics, and preparing to lead the curriculum.
On the launch weekend, the Retreat Leader travels to the congregation and meets with the Facilitator Team to prepare them for the retreat experience and support them in their facilitation roles as the program kicks off. The Retreat Leader then leads the group through the opening retreat on Friday evening and all day on Saturday.
Following the opening retreat, the Retreat Leader serves as the Facilitator Team’s support system during the course of Beloved Conversations. For first-time congregations, the Retreat Leader offers three additional coaching sessions for facilitators (usually after session 2 or 3, session 5 or 6, and session 8). Renewal congregations may contract directly with the Retreat Leader for coaching support as needed.
In addition to leading retreats and supporting congregations as they go through the curriculum, Retreat Leaders are expected to be part of the Beloved Conversations team, joining monthly phone calls with other Retreat Leaders and joining occasional gatherings of the team at General Assembly or other events. Together, in partnership with the Beloved Conversations Curriculum Developer, the Retreat Leaders help to provide feedback on the curriculum, process learnings about what we’re seeing in our congregations, and shape the direction of the curriculum in response to the evolving context we are living in.
A Qualified Retreat Leader Will...
- Have significant experience working with religious communities and congregations, in particular within Unitarian Universalist contexts
- Be savvy about organizational systems
- Have done significant work on their own racial identity development
- Bring a sharp racial analysis and understanding of white supremacy culture patterns in the United States, as well as a deep understanding of how racism colludes with and is supported by other systems of oppression
- Have extremely strong group facilitation skills, including the ability to provide pastoral presence and hold conflict in healthy and productive ways
- Work collaboratively and strategically in teams
- Have the emotional reserves to be present to the ways in which internalized white supremacy culture can manifest in Beloved Conversations participants and congregations, using strategic and developmentally appropriate interventions to help people shift behavior, thinking, and systems**
- Maintain a spiritual practice life, individually and in community, that provides resources for stamina, resiliency, and ongoing commitment with the often frustrating and heartbreaking work of racial justice
- Be familiar with the technologies we use to facilitate retreats, communicate as a team, and share information between the congregation and Beloved Conversations staff. This includes Zoom video conferencing, Google Docs/G-Suite, Keynote/PowerPoint, and basic email platforms
**Beloved Conversations is geared toward Unitarian Universalist congregations, which are without exception predominantly white in culture, practice, and structure — even when they include members of color. In cases where members of color are a part of the Beloved Conversations program, there is an additional level of nuance to hold in facilitation.
Requirements
Retreat Leaders commit to going through a training process, including shadowing at least one retreat led by another Retreat Leader, and co-facilitating at least one retreat with another Retreat Leader. The Retreat Leader trainee will also participate in feedback and goal-setting conversations with the Beloved Conversations Curriculum Developer. The Fahs Collaborative will pay travel expenses, as well as a $350 stipend, for the Retreat Leader for each training retreat.
The Beloved Conversations Curriculum Developer, in consultation with the Congregational Coordinator, will determine when the new Retreat Leader is ready to lead retreats by themselves.
After completing training, Retreat Leaders agree to leading at least 2 Beloved Conversations retreats each church year (typically September - May). Retreat Leaders receive a $700 honorarium per retreat from The Fahs Collaborative, and congregations pay all associated travel expenses. The Congregational Coordinator will work with Retreat Leaders to match them with congregations, taking multiple factors (including timing, geography, and congregational dynamics) into consideration.
Retreat Leaders are the primary point of contact with their congregations, and also serve as the conduit for information between congregations and our Congregational Coordinator.
Application Process
We accept applications for new Retreat Leaders on a rolling basis, but we train our new Retreat Leader cohort once a year during the summers in preparation for the following church year. Please fill out this Google form. Our team will review your submission and get in touch with you shortly.
